222 Transactions, — Zoology > 



Art. XXVIII. — Notes on the Physiology and Anatomy of the Tuatara 

 (Sphenodon giintheri). By A. K. Newman, M.B., M.E.C.P. 

 {Read lefore the Wellington Philosophical Society, 22nd September, 1877.J 

 Vajrious early explorers either saw or heard of the tuatara, and many were 

 their wonderful stories. A Mr. French eclipsed aU others by describing a 

 tuatara ten feet long, which he believed was quite harmless. Polack, whose 

 work on New Zealand was published in the year 1838, speaks of it as a large 

 and harmless reptile. Thomson, Shortland, Colenso, and others also made 

 a few remarks on it. In the year 1842 Dr. Gray called it Hatteria punctata, 

 and classed it as a distinct genus of the family Agamidm. Three years later 

 Professer Owen named it Rhynchocephalus, discovered that its vertebrae were 

 amphicoelous, and that its skull was unhke that of other lizards. In the 

 year 1867 Professor Giinther published a very elaborate monograph on the 

 tuatara in the " Transactions of the Eoyal Society." Dr. Knox criticized* 

 this paper, and very briefly described certain characteristics which he had 

 discovered from dissections made some years previously. Professors Huxley 

 and Mivart have carefully described the peculiar position and form of the 

 hyoid arches. Dr. BuUer has written three articles on the natural history 

 of this strange animal, f 



Nomenclature. 



The early travellers in New Zealand thought it was a member of the 

 IguanidcE. Dr. Gray called it Hatteria lyunctata ; Owen changed it to Rhyn- 

 choceiohalus ; Mivart and Huxley call ii Sphenodon ; Giinther adopts the word 

 Hatteria. The Maoris called it ruatara, tuatara, or tuatete. In the " Leaf 

 from the Natural History of New Zealand," the Kev. Eichard Taylor says : — 

 " Euatara, a lizard, eighteen inches long (guana), chiefly found on small 

 islands. Tuatara, great fringed lizard (Hatteria jninctataj, now only found 

 on the off-shore islets, the pigs having eaten them on the main-land. The 

 word tuatara signifies ' having spines.' Tuatete guana synonymous with 

 tuatara." Mr. Colenso says tuatara and tuatete are not synonymous ; the 

 tuatete was not eaten. It was also called kaweu in the Taranaki dialect. 



Three species of Sphenodon, unlike in form and colour, have been 

 discovered by Duller : — 



(1.) Sphenodon p)unctatum, Gray, black, with myriads of light- coloured 

 spots. 



(2.) Sphenodon, Buller, not at all black, v/ith much green and yellow. 



(3.) Sphenodon guntheri, Buller, still lighter. 



* " Trans. N.Z. Inst." II., 17. 

 t " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," in., 9 ; IX., 329 ; ante Ai-t. XXVIL 



